Mt. Prospect library to add teen, study space to second floor

Mount Prospect Public Library leaders are moving forward with plans to create new study/meeting rooms and an enclosed area for teens on the second floor of the library building.

The library expects to solicit bids early in 2015 for the renovation project, Executive Director Marilyn Genther said. Preliminary estimates show the project costing a little less than $800,000.

As drafted, the renovation would provide five additional meeting spaces, including a conference room that can accommodate larger groups. It would also create a separate, dedicated area for teens.

A few study rooms are available on the second floor now, but the demand for those has grown steadily over the past several years, Genther said.

"And they're not used just for quiet study," she said. "You have tutoring going on, small businesses meet there to work on projects. We've been hearing for a while that people would like us to provide more."

A teen area also exists right now, but it's not enclosed and sits far away from the main staff desk on the floor.

"The plan encloses it with glass walls, which I think the teens will really like," Genther said. "The space will feel like it really belongs to them. And it will be easily accessible by staff should they be needed."

The renovations would make other changes to the second floor, too, including a "zoning" of the floor to keep quiet and noisier areas separate.

Exactly how long the renovations might take to finish won't be known until the bids come in, Genther said. Library officials hope to keep the first floor open during construction.

The library is moving forward with the renovation 10 years after the building at 10 S. Emerson St. was expanded to include the second floor. Voters agreed in 2002 to pay $20.5 million for the project. The expanded building opened in 2004.

"It really seems like every 10 years, libraries have to change how they do things," Genther said. "People's needs are always changing. What's nice about what we did 10 years ago, and the same is true with this plan, is that it allows us to stay flexible and adapt with the times."